Page 20 of A Wolf's Heart

I don’t feel guilty. The words sat on the tip of my tongue, but as the shifters pulled out of my driveway, I couldn’t help the slight tinge of worry… Had I just killed Weylin?

6

LILA

It wasn’t until their taillights disappeared that I could breathe a little easier. Even after they were gone, I stood at the living room windows, watching, waiting, before eventually falling to my knees.

Max was quick, nuzzling my face with his muzzle. I could feel his worry seep through me as I wrapped my arms around him, letting his fur run between my fingers.

And then I cried.

All the emotions of the day rolled through me, and Max let me hold him as I sobbed. The turn of the homicide case, having the new task force invade my space and take over. The discovery of other wolf shifters. The discovery of my mates. My so-called mates running me down. The possibility of death. Everything swept over and through me, and Max let me feel it all. I hadn’t done this with him since he was a pup and my parents had died.

I pulled away, wiping my face while he licked the tears away. I chuckled when he laid his head on my lap, wanting to continue comforting me. I scratched his ears, running my hands down his back. “We’ve been through bad before, right, Max? We’ve chased murderers, recovered traumatized children. We’ve run into thedark towards evil, and we’ve made it out with the bad guys in cuffs or defeated. We’ll get through this.”

Max perked his head up.

“One step at a time, right? You and I, we can do this.”

He gave a littlewoof, and I was able to suck in a deep, rejuvenating breath. Shaky as it was, it filled me with hope. I gave him another scratch on the head before picking myself up from the floor.

“Okay, buddy, we got this. We got this.” I walked over to the fridge and began preparing Max’s food while I slipped into detective mode. “One thing at a time. I’m a wolf shifter, and three wolf shifters came onto my territory.”

Max gave a low growl.

“Bad, yes, but I wasn’t what brought them here. The case was. I need to see that third body tomorrow. If the ribs move like the other two, I have a feeling they, too, are shifters. If that’s the case, then we might be dealing with something bigger here. Bigger than any case we’ve ever solved before.” I set his now-warm food in front of him and gave the command so he could eat.

The room filled with the sound of Max munching on his food. I tossed a pod into the coffee maker, waiting seconds before the amazing aroma filled the air around us.

“We need to find a way to get back on that case, Max.” I was racking my brain, trying to come up with a direction I could go, who I could contact, to get back on the case when the thought filtered in. “They are my mates. What that means, what that entails, I don’t know. But maybe we can use it.”

Max sat down, raising his head and tilting it as he listened to me.

“We’ll be safe, always be armed, but going this direction might be the best bet. Think of it as another undercover case. We learn our targets, we work the case.” It was my turn to comforthim, so I knelt down, petting behind his ear. “Maybe we can learn a little more about shifters too. Maybe I can learn a bit more about myself.”

I dropped my hand, but Max shoved his head back under it, not letting me stop petting him. I smiled. “You and me buddy, for always and ever.”

The shifters didn’t come backthat weekend. Max came with me to run the territory line, so it was a slow but uneventful run. Aside from the fading scents.

I was running by the tree I had climbedon Friday when my paws halted, my instincts taking over. I pressed my nose to the ground and breathed in deeply. The sweet and citrus scent was where Weylin had stood. Though his scent had faded since Friday, I could still pick it up.

I knew it was Weylin’s because every time I walked by my pink robe, which hung from the back door, his scent washed over me. Every time I slipped into my robe, I pulled it around myself a little tighter. Whenever I went to wash the robe, my wolf would beg me not to. This scent mattered to a part of me I didn’t quite understand yet. So, there the robe hung. An item of need. An item of want. An item I tried to forget.

Moving around, I was met with a different, equally fading scent. It was deeper and could easily be mistaken for the scents of the forest. The cedar wood, the musky dampness of the wilderness, but to my wolf nose, the scent was more. It hid within it another layer, a smokiness. This was Rainor.

The scent had been strong as his wolf rolled into me in the alley. Rubbing along my body, oozing out of his pores in an attempt to saturate me. So much turmoil in that wolf’s eyes, so many dimensions locked and hidden within his mind. Blending in with his surroundings, yet something heavier locked within.

The third scent had to be Kage. It was overpowering, causing me to sneeze and shake my head. This was…fresh. I followed the scent to the edge of the territory, pausing to listen, my ears straight forward as I tried to pick up the slightest sounds. Max stayed still, picking up on my alertness and following my lead as he normally did.

Then I stepped into the neutral zone, nose to the ground, and I tailed the scent. A leaf here and there, some rocks scattered, a few sticks… Was he kicking his scent into the neutral zone?

That, that, that baby!

I turned and trotted back to my line, where Max was waiting patiently, but stopped on the edge.Two can play at that game, I thought as I began kicking up debris into the neutral zone. Disrespect me? Fine, be prepared to get what you give.

I’m not afraid of you, Kage Cridhe.

7

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